Cold Storage, the new sci-fi film starring Liam Neeson, opened in theaters on February 13 and struggled. It grossed just over $4 million at the box office against an estimated production budget of somewhere between $10 million and $30 million, depending on the source. Now, months later, it is finding the audience that theaters could not deliver.
As of July 16, the film sits at No. 4 on the MGM+ Top 10 overall movies and TV shows list in the United States, according to Screen Rant. It ranks below The Westies, From, and Project Hail Mary, and above titles including A Working Man, Robin Hood, and Tropic Thunder.
Directed by Jonny Campbell, Cold Storage was written by David Koepp, who adapted the script from his own 2019 novel. The film follows Neeson as a former bioterrorism agent pulled out of retirement when a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory. He is called back into action alongside two young employees to contain the threat.
The cast includes Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery, Sosie Bacon, Vanessa Redgrave, Lesley Manville, Darrell D'Silva, Daniel Rigby, Rob Collins, Ellora Torchia, Andrew Brooke, Richard Brake, Aaron Heffernan, and Gavin Spokes. Koepp and Gavin Polone produced.
The film runs 99 minutes and received mostly positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an 81% critics score. The site's Critics Consensus reads: "A smart but familiar B-movie throwback, Cold Storage delivers campy performances, gooey splatter, and wry sci-fi wit with infectious enthusiasm." The audience score sits at 75%.
Neeson has built a long sci-fi resume over a 40-year career. He played Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 1999 and has appeared in Krull, Battleship, and Men in Black: International, among others. Cold Storage adds another entry to that list, even if its path to an audience ran through a streaming platform rather than a multiplex.
